Details of Research Outputs

This chapter points out the importance of accepting both real-typical welfare regime studies that do not use Max Weber’s ideal-type method, and ideal-typical welfare regime studies that do. It provides clues on how to choose a real-typical or ideal-typical methodology, while pointing out the confusion caused by mixing up findings and studies of both streams of research, the real-typical and the ideal-typical. Francis G. Castles and Deborah Mitchell have substantiated their case of identifying a fourth major model of the welfare state. They have called it the wage-earner’s welfare state, and referred to Australia and New Zealand as the main, but not only, members of this particular welfare regime. Shortly after first debates on welfare states down under, a perhaps more prominent debate on regime membership, regime characteristics and reasoning thereof was launched in the heart of Europe. Social assistance played only a very minor role in the overall Italian welfare state system.